Substantial evidence indicates that maltreatment places abused children at great risk for illiteracy and damaging self-perceptions of competency and worth. Given that academic ability and self-concept are reciprocally related and mutually reinforcing, it was hypothesized that participation in an intensive literacy intervention would positively impact the reading, writing, and related self-perceptions of maltreated Struggling Readers from the Ontario Child-Welfare system. Using a mixed methods approach, 24 participants (ages 14-24) completed achievement and self-perception measures and were interviewed about their literacy experiences and views, pre and post intervention. Repeated measures analyses and pairwise comparisons measured the impact of intervention on the literacy skills and related self-evaluations of these youth and assessed how the literacy skills and related self-evaluations differed from maltreated youth without reading difficulties (n = 22). Interviews were analyzed thematically. Results converged to provide empirical support for the benefits of literacy intervention on skill and self-perception development for this high risk group of youth. Qualitative analyses further revealed unanticipated, dramatic and meaningful life changes. Participants manifested improved communication and metacognitive skills, increased autonomy and internal motivation, and amplified feelings of empowerment and hope for the future.

The sexual differentiation of the spinal nucleus of bulbocavernosus (SNB) and the bulbocavernosus (BC) and levator ani (LA) muscles that the SNB innervates, are masculinized by androgens acting on the BC/LA. The site of androgen receptors (AR) responsible for the masculinization of the neuromuscular system is not known. A potential site of action is satellite cells: proliferation of these cells is androgen-dependent and satellite cells seem to contribute to the size of the LA. Fluorescent immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy were used to co-localize satellite cells and AR within the LA of postnatal day one and three male and female rats. Results indicate that satellite cells express AR and reveal a difference in proportion of satellite cells expressing AR between the LA and control muscle. Interpretations of these findings, including whether the relatively small proportion of AR accounted for by satellite cells is enough to masculinize the SNB system, are discussed.

Users of cochlear implants typically have difficulty differentiating talkers, identifying vocal expressions of emotion, and recognizing familiar melodies because of the degraded spectral cues provided by conventional implants. This thesis examined these abilities in a small, relatively privileged sample of young bilateral implant users. In Study 1 child implant users and a control sample of hearing children were required to judge whether various utterances were produced by a man, woman, or girl (Experiment 1) and to identify the voices of cartoon characters from familiar television programs (Experiment 2). Child implant users’ performance on talker classification was comparable to that of hearing children. Their identification of cartoon characters’ voices was less accurate than that of hearing children but well above chance levels. These findings challenge conventional wisdom about the talker identification difficulties of implant users. In Study 2 the children were required to indicate whether semantically neutral utterances (Experiment 1) or classical piano excerpts (Experiment 2) sounded “happy” or “sad”. In both cases, implant users performed less accurately than hearing children but well above chance levels. Although the findings on emotion recognition in music are in line with those of previous research, the findings on emotion in speech are at odds with claims that young implant users are insensitive to vocal affect. In Study 3 the children were required to identify the theme songs from familiar television programs on the basis of combined timing and pitch cues as well as timing or pitch cues alone. Implant users’ performance was comparable to that of hearing children except when the cues were restricted to pitch relations, which resulted in performance at chance levels. The findings suggest that the musical representations of young implanted listeners include precise information about timing and coarser information about pitch. They also demonstrate, for the first time, that children, both implant users and those with normal hearing, can identify familiar music on the basis of timing cues alone. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of timing cues for implant users, the range of individual differences, and habilitation possibilities for the recognition of talkers, emotion, and music.

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Ann Murray / As the number of adoptable infants within the U.S. has declined, many families have chosen to adopt internationally. According to the U.S. Department of State, for the 2002 fiscal year 19,139 immigrant visas were issued to orphans coming into the U.S. A majority of these adopted children came from China, South Korea, Romania and Russia. Previous studies have found attachment problems in some adopted populations in early childhood. However, a majority of studies have focused on other problem areas for older adopted children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors associated with attachment in children adopted from these four countries in early childhood. All of the agencies within the U.S. that provided adoption services to these four countries were contacted through letters describing the study. The agencies that agreed to participate contacted potential participants directly through a form letter describing the study and that contained a website address for them to visit. At this website address, the potential participants were asked to fill out a survey regarding their adoption experience. A total of 242 families who had adopted children who were currently between one and six years of age agreed to participate in the study. Results indicated that secure attachments with their adoptive families were more likely in instances where the parenting style was authoritative, there was a positive emotional reaction from the parents on the day of adoption, the parents received strong social support, there were fewer health/developmental problems at arrival for the adopted child, there were fewer health/developmental services needed for the adopted child, the child spent more months in the adoptive home at the time of the survey and the parent spent more time with child before returning to work. Also, results indicated that adopted children displayed more indiscriminately friendly behavior the more months spent in the adoptive home at the time of the survey and the more time the child spent in the institution. The findings of this study support and extend previous research done on this topic while simultaneously opening up new avenues for international adoption research to explore. The findings of this study also provide useful information for adoption agencies to incorporate in their training of social workers and informing parents of the factors associated with developing secure attachments with their internationally adopted children.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Mark A. Barnett / When adolescents are the subjects of developmental research into prosocial behaviors, the evidence suggests that both peers and parents are contributors to adolescents’ helping behavior. However, these two predictors are rarely studied concurrently. The present study explored the relative influence of parents and peers on (1) different types of adolescent helping (i.e., planned and spontaneous) and (2) different targets of spontaneous helping (i.e., friends, non-friends, and strangers) in 51 early (mean age = 12.54 years, 24 boys and 27 girls) and 57 middle (mean age = 16.82 years, 25 boys and 32 girls) adolescents. Adolescents and their parents completed parallel forms asking them to describe their planned helping as well as a questionnaire assessing past and anticipated future spontaneous helping of friends, strangers, and (for adolescents only) non-friends. Adolescents also reported their perception of their friendship group’s norm of helping as well as their level of identification with their friendship group. There was no clear age-related helping pattern, though a sex difference (females were generally more helpful than males) and an effect of target (friends were helped more than non-friends, who were in turn helped more than strangers) found in the adolescents was paralleled in the adults. Fathers’ planned helping was generally more strongly related to their adolescents’ planned helping than was mothers’ planned helping, though both mothers’ and fathers’ spontaneous helping of friends and family (though not of strangers) was strongly associated with their adolescents’ spontaneous helping. In contrast to parental variables’ relationship with both adolescent planned and spontaneous helping, peer variables were more consistently related to spontaneous than planned helping. Implications of the present findings, and proposed directions for future research, are discussed.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / David A. Gustafson / The use of hidden Markov models in autism recognition and analysis is investigated. More specifically, we would like to be able to determine a person's level of autism (AS, HFA, MFA, LFA) using hidden Markov models trained on observations taken from a subject's behavior in an experiment. A preliminary model is described that includes the three mental states self-absorbed, attentive, and join-attentive. Futhermore, observations are included that are more or less indicative of each of these states. Two experiments are described, the first on a single subject and the second on two subjects. Data was collected from one individual in the second experiment and observations were prepared for input to hidden Markov models and the resulting hidden Markov models were studied. Several questions subsequently arose and tests, written in Java using the JaHMM hidden Markov model tool- kit, were conducted to learn more about the hidden Markov models being used as autism recognizers and the training algorithms being used to train them. The tests are described along with the corresponding results and implications. Finally, suggestions are made for future work. It turns out that we aren't yet able to produce hidden Markov models that are indicative of a persons level of autism and the problems encountered are discussed and the suggested future work is intended to further investigate the use of hidden Markov models in autism recognition.

No description available.

Une régression du langage en bas âge (ELR) est observée par 10 à 50% des parents d’enfants autistes, mais l’importance de cet évènement sur le développement des habiletés langagières et sociocommunicatives est incertaine. Ce mémoire de maîtrise vise à établir l’effet de l’ELR sur la progression du développement du langage et les performances sociocommunicatives. Il vise également à mettre en évidence les caractéristiques communicatives atypiques qui accompagnent le développement du langage des enfants autistes avec un ELR. Les données rétrospectives de 2 047 enfants autistes âgés de 4 à 18 ans ont été extraites de la Simons Simplex Collection. La progression du langage après un ELR a été quantifiée et la probabilité d’atteindre un niveau fluide a été modélisée par régression logistique. Les atypies de la communication associées à un antécédent d'ELR ont été identifiées et regroupées. Des modèles linéaires ont été utilisés pour évaluer la relation de l'ELR, le QI non verbal et de la combinaison d’atypies de la communication avec les niveaux d’habiletés langagières et sociocommunicatives. L’ELR est associée à une émergence plus rapide du langage, mais à une maîtrise tardive du langage fluide. La probabilité d’atteindre un langage fluide est principalement influencée par le QI non verbal, dont l’effet n’est pas modulé par ELR. Les enfants autistes avec ELR présentent un développement du langage qui commence tôt, suivi d’un plateau et d’une phase de rattrapage. Cette dernière est associée à un groupe d’atypies de la communication pouvant représenter un profil central du développement du langage en autisme. / Early language regression (ELR) is observed by 10 to 50% of autistic children parents but its relevance on the development of language and socio-communicative skills is uncertain. This master's thesis aims to establish the effect of ELR on the progression of language development and socio-communicative outcomes. It also aims to highlight the atypical communicative features that accompany the language development of autistic children with ELR. Retrospective data from 2 047 unrelated autistic children aged from 4 to 18 years were extracted from the Simons Simplex Collection. Language progression following ELR was quantified and the probability of achieving fluent speech modelled by logistic regression. Atypical communicative features associated with a history of ELR were identified and grouped. Linear models were used to evaluate the relationship of ELR, non- verbal IQ and the combination of atypical communicative features with language and socio-communicative levels. ELR is associated with faster language onset but later attainment of speech fluency. The probability of reaching fluent speech is mostly influenced by non-verbal IQ, the effect of which is not modulated by ELR. Autistic children with ELR present a speech development, which starts early, followed by a plateau and a final phase of catch up. The latter is associated with a group of atypical communicative features that may represent a core language development profile in autism.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Rick J. Scheidt / This M.S. report provides an evaluative review of research on parental influences on adolescent sexual decision-making. Data show that a significant proportion of never-married female and male teens (ages 15-19) have had sexual intercourse at least once. Adolescent decisions on sexuality and possible consequences such as pregnancy or sexually-transmitted diseases may have profound personal and social impacts. Theoretical and empirical domains of parental influence are reviewed, including communication, morality, family structure and context, parental control, as well as the role of media. This review shows that adolescent sexuality has changed over time due to socio-historical factors and that parents continue to have an influence on their children’s decision-making abilities. Implications for applied professionals and researchers are discussed.